This week’s Monday Mailer

It’s the end of June and I have mailed out my last June Monday Mailer.  Unfortunately, I was not as lucky on the receiving end of my Monday Mailers and only received one card.  My partner was busy and says she will be sending my cards later so I’m being patient!

Here’s my card:

I used the stamp set, Fresh Cuts.  The Fresh-Cut note card is embossed with the polka dot Texturz Plate.  I stamped on Rich Razzleberry (new in color) paper with white craft ink and embossed it.  The flower is punched with the Boho Blossoms punch and sponged with white craft ink.  I used the new polka-dot grosgrain ribbon (Rich Razzleberry) on the side.

This is the inside of the card:

50 Life Lessons

I ran across this article by Regina Britt, a columnist, and thought it was great. Perhaps you will too.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

blog candy alert

Last day for Blog Candy HERE!

Dual Challenges

I did another card tonight to meet the criteria of two challenges!  And, I have to brag, I just love this card!!  The sketch is another one from Stamping 411.  The colors are from a new one I found called Color Throwdown using Kraft, Baja Breeze and Pink Pirouette .... how could I resist?

This card uses Kraft, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze and Parisian Breeze DSP.  The stamp set is from Hero Arts, Feather Gras.  I cut out all those flowers and the flourish/stems.  The circles are from the Nestabilities.  The scallop punch is Martha Stewart and I used little gemstones in the center of the flowers.

It has been so hot and humid here the past few days.  We didn't even want to go out on the boat today because of the humidity.  We've been back in NC almost 3 years and this is the first time we have encountered that awful humidity that we both remembered about the Carolinas.  Hopefully, next week will be better!  So we had to busy ourselves today finding things to do inside!  We picked my Mom up about noon and went to the movies to see Pelham 123.  It was very good if you like action flicks!  I love Denzel Washington and Travolta.  After the show, we drove to the mall so I could get my sunglasses tinted a little more and Sonny actually went shopping!!  That never happens, but he needed shorts and a belt.  (The belt he was wearing he has had since  before we were married .... in 1973!!  Think he needed one???)  When we left the mall, we headed to Friendly's Restaurant in Huntersville where we all 3 had ice cream sundaes.  I know, not quite Weight Watchers, but it sure was good!  When we took Mom home, Sonny & I planted a couple of gardenia bushes for her.  Then, we headed to Michaels (and Sonny to Dick's).  Michaels shelves were pretty bare.  I think they are getting ready to put the fall merchandise in .... can you believe it??  We were going to take a spin out on the lake when we got home, but by that time is was 6:00 pm and Sonny said he felt like we were back at Ashley's we had been on the go so much today.  So, we just had dinner (I was smart and put pork ribs in the crockpot this morning!) and watched a couple of shows on tv.

Hope your weekend is good and you are keeping cool!  We keep reminding ourselves it could be worse .... we could still be in Texas where it is still 90 degrees when you go to bed!

411 Sketch Challenge

Last night around midnight, I decided to make a card!  After watching the depressing stories about Farrah & Michael for the past few days, I needed something to cheer me up! 

I decided to do a challenge card from this sketch:

The "411" sketch challenges are a lot of fun.  They even give you the measurements!!  I took a few liberties with the sketch - as you can see .... no scallop circle, but used the daisy instead but I like the results.  Hope you do too!

I used the new "In Color" Rich Razzleberry and paired it up with an old "In Color" Pink Pirouette.  The DSP will be retiring next week but I still love it!  It's Raspberry Tart and I think it matches these two in colors well.   (remember - click on the picture to see it)

I'm sure going to miss this year's in colors.  The new ones are going to definitely have to grow on me!!  I'm just not too sure about them.  But that is what I said last year about Baja Breeze and it turned out to be one of my favorites!  Have you stocked up on them before they retire???

DC Tour .... part 2

OK - back to finish my travel monologue! I think I left off on Wednesday at the Supreme Court and Library of Congress. After our day of sightseeing, we met some of Ashley's friends for dinner at the Quarry House and had an old friend join us. One of my son's friends happened to be in DC for a couple of weeks also. Sam works for NASA in Houston and was in DC for the moon launch so it was perfect! He met us for dinner and also was able to come to Ashley's party on Friday.

Here we are with Sam -

Thursday: We took Thursday off and relaxed. We had lunch in Georgetown at Old Glory and then dropped Ashley off at Walter Reed for graduation rehearsal. It was a much needed day of leisure!

Friday: Finally .... graduation!! Imagine my surprise when I opened up the program and saw a wonderful write-up about Ashley winning two of the awards! She was totally surprised. When she filed in with the others, we ended up sitting about 2 rows behind her and she asked for a program. We didn't give it to her because we didn't think she knew and we were correct. She won the Bailey K Ashford Clinical Research Award and the General Graves B Erskine Fellowship Award. Here are a few of the excerpts from the article:

"As a clinician .... she is superb. She is an astute and confident diagnostician who has earned the confidence of her patients and parents as well as her attending physicians. ... Residents pursue our rotation when Dr. Maranich is on service as she is renowned for her level of instruction and mentorship... Ashley has taken the role of "physician-scholar" to new heights.... she has published four peer-reviewed articles and two book chapters during her fellowship..... she has proven to be one of the most accomplished graduates from a training program in the National Capital Area in recent history."

Friday night we told Ashley that we were meeting Sam (Jeff's friend that was in town) at a local Mexican restaurant where her friends and colleagues were waiting. Three of Ashley's good friends had planned a surprise party for her! She didn't catch on until the hostess said something about us having reservations for dinner .... we're not a reservations making family! But that was ok - it was a great party!

Here's Ashley with Beth, Debbie & Laurie:

Saturday we drove to Alexandria. We wandered around town and grabbed some lunch. That night we attended the End of the Year Pediatrics party held at Indigo Landing. The view from the deck of Indigo Landing was magnificent - we had a great view across the Potomac River of the airport (National) and the planes landing and taking off as well as a lot of the DC Monuments.

We spent the night in Alexandria at Best Western Old Colony Inn. If you ever plan a trip to the DC area, I highly recommend this motel!! It had complimentary WI FI, fitness center, flat screen TV in the rooms, hot breakfast in the a.m. but best of all was the Snack Kitchen on each floor! It is a fully-stocked kitchen open 24 hours a day with soups, snacks, fruit, sodas, water, gourmet coffee, ice cream, cookies, and much more. The concept is designed to reflect how kitchens might be stocked in a guest's own home. Check it out HERE! If you were visiting DC for a few days, you would only need to buy one meal a day!! A great deal! And the price of the room was very reasonable.

Sunday, we explored Alexandria a little more, touring Gadsby's Tavern Museum which consists of two buildings, a ca. 1785 tavern and the 1792 City Hotel. The buildings are named for Englishman John Gadsby and was a center of political, business, and social life in early Alexandria. Some of the patrons of the tavern and hotel included George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

We also drove to the George Washington Masonic Memorial and took a tour of it. This is a magnificent building!! It was difficult to get good pictures inside but you can take a virtual tour HERE.

We celebrated Father's Day at an Irish bar in Alexandria with some great fish and chips!

Monday was another "veg out" day while Ashley went to work. That night we went to Wolf Trap again to see Creedence Clearwater. They performed all their hits including “Bad Moon Rising,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” and “Fortunate Son.” They were led by the band’s original rhythm section, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford. It was definitely a step back in time as these were the songs popular when Sonny and I were dating and first married.

Tuesday we drove to Baltimore where we ate lunch and then headed to the airport to catch our flight back home.

All in all, we had a great time!!

New catalogs

The new Stampin' Up catalogs are HERE!! I have a few that have been pre-ordered. If you are interested in having one of the catalogs, let me know and I will get it to you!! The catalogs are $10 each,

Call me now so you can see all the new goodies .... the fun begins JULY 1!!!

Friend .... ship

I am trying to be a friend with a person in my life by taking baby steps towards a trusting relationship. 

I've recently read an article about making friends out of rivals or enemies.  They listed these ten steps:

1. Find something to talk to them about which has nothing to do with the reason why you are rivals. Most of the time rivalry is a result of jealousy, so find something that is not a bone of contention between you.
2. Talk to them about something that they are very good at or interested in. This will make them relax because they have the home court advantage but at the same time they are not competing with you.
3. When they are not around, make sure that you speak about them the same which you would while they were present. The worst thing that you can do to a rival is say something which fuels the fire. Especially if it comes to them through another source.
4. Make sure that you are not too nice to them when you approach them. If you are they may lose respect for you or think that you are simply 'up to something.
5. Find something that you have in common which you are both passionate about that has nothing to do with the reason you are rivals. 
6. Ask for their advice.  This will impress them that you are humble enough to ask them for advice and that you respect them. Many times rivalry is due to a lack of mutual respect; if you can restore respect,  you can heal wounds caused by conflict.
7. Entrust them with something.  Just make sure that you have done some of the other ten steps to making friends out of rivals first. Trusting people puts them on the hook to live up to that trust. They will not forget it.  Just make sure that you use common sense.
8. Tell them a joke.  Seriously, making someone laugh is the best way to get them to relax. If they think that the joke is funny they may even try to one up you with one of their own. Just make sure that you laugh so that it will not be competitive.
9. As the friendship grows,  ask for them to forgive you for being the way that you have with them. They will most likely follow suit.
10. Find something productive to do with the friendship and it will probably last a very long time.  

So, without further ado, here's the card that I made.

 I used the new Soft Suede cardstock (new In Color) for the card base with some retiring DSP.  The stamp set is Boatloads of Love and I watercolored the image.  I used Liquid Applique on the clouds.  I also used the Nestabilities Labels One die.

I'm baaack!!

Wow .... we returned home last night and it sure was good to sleep in my own bed.  You know that old saying, it's fun to travel but great to be back home!!  Our return trip on Delta was not as bad as the one trying to get to DC, but it was not without delays.  Guess that's what you get for traveling in the summer.  Everything was good - we got to Baltimore airport a little early and made the trip to Atlanta with no problems.  Atlanta flight was on time, BUT .... because of traffic in Charlotte, we had to sit on the Atlanta runway for 40 minutes!!  Ironic since the flight from Atlanta to Charlotte is only 40 minutes!!  Then, it took forever for our baggage to come down the ramp.  We finally made it home around 9 pm ready to just "veg." 

Here's a run-down on a lot of what we did while in DC.  I had to write it all down or I'd forget!!

Friday:  Ashley had to work so Sonny & I dropped her off and went to a great little deli near Walter Reed for lunch.  That night, we went to the Green Turtle and watched our Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of the STANLEY CUP!!

Saturday:  Drove out to Fort Meyer so Ashley could get some ribbons, etc. for her uniform for her promotion.  After wandering around the PX, we went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.  It is part of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and is the companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall.  It provides enough space for the Smithsonian to display the thousands of aviation and space artifacts that cannot be exhibited on the National Mall. The two sites together showcase the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world.

Sunday:  We went to church, had breakfast at the Georgetown Cafe in Bethesda and went to the National Cathedral.  Ashley and I had toured it before but Sonny never had so we took the guided tour.  That night we went to Wolf Trap to see The Ultimate Doo-Wop Show.  It  featured:  The Drifters, Jimmy Beaumont & The Skyliners, The Contours, Willie Rogers & The Soul Stirrers, The Clovers, Randy & the Rainbows, The Marcels, The Edsels, and The Blue Suede Orchestra.  We were singing to these hits:  “Under the Boardwalk,” “Do You Love Me,” “Love Potion No. 9,” and “Blue Moon,” with artists featured in the popular PBS special.  It was great!!  I even got Sonny up to dance a couple of times!

Monday:  We had Ashley's ceremony at the National Archives Museum.  (Read blog post HERE and HERE)  We went to the top of the Washington Memorial which was an awesome view of the city!!

Then we headed to the Smithsonian American History Museum where we saw such things as Julia Child's Kitchen, Dorothy's Red Ruby Slippers, Kermit the Frog, Edith & Archie's chairs, Roberto Clemente's jersey, the original Star Spangled Banner and flag .....

Tuesday:  After breakfast at The Original Pancake House (YUM), we headed downtown again via the Metro to the Newseum Museum.  It was awesome and we were there all day!!  It bills itself as "the worlds most interactive museum."  It showcases history through the lens of our media, from newspapers to movie reels, television to the Web.  You don't have to be a history buff to enjoy the Newseum.   Take the Virtual Tour HERE.  I don't know what was my favorite part .... from the old newspapers you could view the end of the Civil War, the section of the Berlin Wall and photographs, or the traveling exhibit of Pulitzer Prize Photographs (From the poignant shot of an ailing Babe Ruth watching his number being retired at Yankee Stadium, to the U.S. Marines raising an American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, the photographs illustrate the enduring power of the still image.)  We finished the day off with Stromboli's!!

Wednesday:  We got a late start today and skipped breakfast.  We went straight to lunch with Philly sandwiches.  Then hopped on the Metro to check out the Supreme Court and The Library of Congress. We heard a lecture at the Supreme Court as to how it all works - they were not in session at the time.  Then we just wandered around on our own.  They have a gorgeous Spiral Staircase that is a self-supporting eliptical staircase.  There are 136 steps that complete 7 spirals while ascending 5 stories from the basement. 

We were very surprised at the Library of Congress.  We really just passed it by and decided to go in and see what it had to offer.  We were so glad that we did!  It is the most gorgeous building inside!!  It is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.  There are actually 3 buildings that house the Library of Congress .... we toured the Thomas Jefferson Building.  I would highly recommend the tour.  HERE is a virtual tour of the second floor of the building.

Well, enough for now!  I'll finish the tour another day.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Interesting Fasts!

• After the Bayer company introduced aspirin in 1899, it quickly became the top-selling non-prescription drug in the world. At first, it was sold as a loose powder. But sixteen years later, in 1915, Bayer gave us the first familiar aspirin tablets.
• Limousines got their name from the Limousin region of France, where they were first made.
• Leotards are named after Jules Leotard, a trapeze artist from France, who popularized the snug-fitting garment during his performances in the 1800’s.
• The J.J. Heinz company sells more than 50 percent of all the ketchup in the world.

_{Resource: ~~Strange & Fascinating Facts About Famous Brands by Charles Reichblum}